


Invisible Battle Scars

by BlackCat46



Series: Twelve's Team Prompts - Family [4]
Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Father-daughter comfort, Nightmare, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 13:47:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28546584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackCat46/pseuds/BlackCat46
Summary: The scars the Hunger Games and war leave on people are not always visible to the outside world.
Relationships: Haymitch Abernathy & Katniss Everdeen
Series: Twelve's Team Prompts - Family [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1641742
Comments: 7
Kudos: 15





	Invisible Battle Scars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Buckets_Of_Stars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Buckets_Of_Stars/gifts).



> Hello, all! I hope 2021 is behaving for you so far, and that everyone around you is doing well.
> 
> Today's post comes from Buckets_Of_Stars, who requested _"Oh my god I love this series so much! 😊❤️ If you’re still accepting prompts, I think it would be really cute if Haymitch and Katniss could have a father-daughter moment, maybe with Haymitch comforting Katniss after a nightmare? 👀💕_ and honestly, I love it. We need more Haymitch/Katniss father-daughter bonding here.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games. All rights go to Suzanne Collins, and I am not Suzanne. I just adore her work.

_"Go to bed, kid. You look like a dead kid walking. Get some rest. You're safe here," Haymitch had told her._

_Lies. All the lies he could spit out, all for her. He'd lied about protecting Peeta, lied about making sure Peeta would live, lied about the rebellion being good, lied about Prim's safety, lied about Coin, lied about sobriety. How could she ever trust a word out of his mouth again? Where's the evidence that she's safe? In the bottle in his hand? The glazed look in his eyes? Maybe the fact that he hadn't showered in days? No, not even slightly. She'd left the living room anyway, finding her way up to the guest room he'd set her up in, insistent that a comatose child shouldn't be left alone, and she'd been too apathetic to argue. Now she lies in bed, watching the ceiling in the dark, longing for her sister to come and crawl into bed beside her. "Prim? Are you there?" she whispers. She's vaguely aware of something that says she's being silly, childish, of course her sister isn't there, there's no way she could be. "Please, Prim. I miss you."_

_"You miss me?" a voice, a bitter, distorted version of Prim's mild, sweet voice asks coldly in the dark. "Like you did when you were so obsessed with protecting Peeta that you let them send me into the field? Or when you were just so caught up in your little rebellion that you lost sight of why you were fighting? It really does look like you miss me, Katniss. Why did I have to die for you to realise that I matter to you?"_

_"You've always mattered to me, Prim!" Katniss hisses, the words hurting more than a bullet to the ribcage, or being burnt alive by the same firebombs that killed her sister. "You're the reason this all happened! I would never have volunteered for the Games if it wasn't for you! I wouldn't have caused so much trouble if getting home to you wasn't my priority. I only ever cared about you!"_

_"It didn't look like that from my perspective," the warped voice chuckles, all horrible and dark, as a small figure steps out of the shadows. Blonde hair flows behind the figure, but the face is in too much shadow to be clear yet. "It looked more like you were debating every move you made around Gale or Peeta, or like you were constantly buddying up with people you said you couldn't trust. You never once cared to talk to Mom or me. It's why Mom left. You're the reason Mom left us, you're why I got firebombed. If you'd just behaved how they wanted you to, we'd all still be alive."_

_"If I'd done that, they would have killed you if I stepped out of line," Katniss hisses back. "Prim, please, I didn't want you to die. I did what I did to keep you safe. You were my only reason for doing any of this. I would never have done anything if it wasn't for you."_

_The figure steps out of the shadows, and Katniss reels in horror at the sight. In place of the image of her sweet younger sister, there's a creature that she can only describe as a mutt, the same that had murdered Finnick, now towering over her, stretching impossibly skywards, chunks of blonde hair dropping around its feet. "You did this to her, Katniss. You ruined lives, Katniss. Because of you, your father was murdered in the mines. Because of you, your friends were murdered. Because of you, your sister was firebombed. Because of you, Peeta was tortured. Because of you, Finnick will never meet his son. Because of you-"_

_"Haymitch!" Katniss screams. "Haymitch! Haymitch!"_

Light flashes on, and Katniss shields her eyes against the harsh glare. Arms tightly wind around her, and instinct kicks in. She fights and wriggles until a familiar gravelly tone murmurs "Easy, sweetheart, just me. It's all right. I've got you. Whatever it is, it can't get you now. It's all right. Come here."

She lifts her gaze, blinking against the blinding light in the room, trying to focus on the man holding her. She relaxes when she sees the familiar features of her mentor, and now, she presumes, her guardian. "Haymitch," she murmurs.

"Hey, kid," he whispers, shifting her a little so that she's curled on his lap. "Want to talk about it?"

"It's my fault," she breathes out, curling in on herself that littlest bit more. "Prim said so. It's my fault she's dead. If I'd just paid a bit more attention to her, she wouldn't have been sent onto the field as a medic."

Haymitch sighs softly and says "Not true, sweetheart. Prim volunteered. Said she wanted to be there to help. She wanted to do something for the cause. If you not paying attention killed her, then by that logic, I killed her too. I didn't even think about her, too busy worrying about you and the boy. Didn't think anything of her until she was already gone."

"What?" Katniss asks in bewilderment. "She didn't! She wouldn't! Prim was smarter than that!"

"She was," Haymitch says slowly. "But she did. This wasn't your fault, kid. The blame rests on Coin's shoulders, on Plutarch's, and on Beetee's. They all knew what that weapon was, and Coin and Plutarch knew how it would be deployed. You didn't do anything wrong. Prim would have been caught in that blast whether you'd paid attention or not."

"What about Finnick?" she asks. "And the Leeg twins? And Boggs? And Jackson? And Mitchell? Castor? Messalla? And Homes? All the people in the hospital?"

"Are you going to beat yourself up over losing everyone?" he asks. "Kid, you'll turn into me, which I'm trying to prevent. It's unpleasant, it's wrong, it's tragic, it's many lives lost too soon, but you know what else? It's _not. Your. Fault_. You were just the symbol, and you were fighting for the right cause. The deaths war causes are not on your shoulders, kid. Those deaths would have happened whether you were the symbol or not. You're not to blame."

"She said I was the reason Mom left, Dad died, she died, Finnick died and never gets to meet his son, and the reason Peeta was tortured," Katniss sniffs.

"Who said?" Haymitch asks, stroking Katniss's hair gently. 

"Prim," Katniss whispers. "Or, whatever was pretending to be Prim."

"It's not her," he says quietly. "That was a bad dream. Your subconscious mind blames you for what happened. You blame yourself, and you dreamt that Prim would tell you that, but she wouldn't. Do you remember what she was really like, sweetheart? That little girl who trailed after her big sister and never had a cruel word to say about you. That kid would never blame you. She was proud of you, right to the end. She would _never_ blame you, sweetheart. Never. You didn't cause any of this. All you did was fight to survive, and that's all you could do."

"Was I too absorbed in everything I was doing?" she asks quietly, her cheeks burning as she feels a latent embarrassment flush her body.

"You had a lot to do, and you're a kid," Haymitch says, giving her a squeeze. "What do you think you are, some kind of super girl? You barely had time to blink, there's no way you could have kept an eye on your sister. That was your mom's job, not yours, always was meant to be your mom's job. You need to lay off yourself, sweetheart, you did what you could, you did what was right, and you can't change anything that was done now. All you can do now is forgive what did happen, lay it to rest, and work on healing now. Starting with some restful sleep. Do you want me to get the pills Effie gave you?"

"No!" she yelps, grabbing his wrist hard. "No, not those. They just trap me in there."

"Okay," he murmurs. "Okay. What helps you sleep, huh? Hot milk? Uh... Hot chocolate? Pretty sure I got some of that stashed somewhere..."

"Can you stay?" she asks quietly. "Stay with me, I mean."

A little flustered, Haymitch fumbles for a moment to find the right words, then nods. "Sure, kiddo. Okay. You lie down, I'll get the lights." He lies her down in the bed and gets up to turn out the light. He finds his way back to the bed and lies down next to her, extending his arm a little for her. She tucks herself up right next to him, her head on his chest, and lets out a quiet sigh. "You go to sleep now, sweetheart, and when you next wake up, it'll be daytime."

"Okay," she whispers, curling up a little. "Goodnight."

"Night, kid," he murmurs, tucking the blanket a little more firmly around her. Winters in Twelve aren't the warmest, and he's not about to let her freeze. 

A few minutes of silence pass before Katniss asks "Do you ever wonder what life will be like soon?"

"Do you know how to go to sleep?" he asks. When he gets an insistent nudge, he sighs. "Not really, no. Once I'm sure you and the boy can look after yourselves, I'm going back to my normal life. Until then, my mission is making sure you two don't wind up in more trouble."

"Why?" she asks softly. "Why don't you want more?"

"Kid, I'm forty three, what _more_ am I going to be going for?" he scoffs. "I've got a disaster-prone teenage daughter, and a hijacked teenage son, and I've got more alcohol in my body than blood or water. The only _more_ I'm getting once you two are stable enough is bottles or a casket."

Her grip around his stomach tightens and she murmurs "No. Don't even joke about that. Enough people are dead, don't add yourself to that list." He sighs and she squeezes harder. "I mean it, Haymitch. You're a nightmare, and you're nasty, but you're the only parent who cares for Peeta and me. We'll never outgrow needing our dad."

He strokes her hair softly and mutters "I was joking. You're not getting rid of me any time soon."

"Better not be," she mutters. "I'll set Peeta on you if you try."

"You work on your threats, I'll work on keeping us all out of the ground," he tells her. "Go to sleep, kid. The nightmares are just that. They can't hurt you now, and if anything tries, it'll come through me first."

She closes her eyes and whispers "Don't go away."

"Not a chance, sweetheart," he promises. "I'll be right here when you wake up. Go on, you're all right."

She snuggles down, and as her breathing steadies and slows to an even pace, he smiles a little at her. Finally, after so many years, the pain can stop, and together, he, Katniss, and Peeta can all work on healing their wounds.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this. As always, if you have anything you want to see or share with me, my comment box is always open to you. Thank you to Buckets_Of_Stars for the prompt :) 
> 
> Until next update, I hope you are all doing well. 
> 
> Cat xxx


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